Rocket



R. ZWERINA Feb. 27, 1940.

ROCKET Filed March 17, 1958 Patented Fein. 2'?, 1940 PATENT OFFICE RCKET Rudolf Zwerina, Vienna, Austria Application March 17, 1938, Serial No. 196,522

lin Austria March 27, 1937 The present invention relates to rockets and particularly pertains to'means for controlling the combustion of the propelling material.

Rockets provided with a plurality of chambers 5 having a single propelling charge are already known. Various other partial embodiments of the idea have been' disclosed wherein a series of hollow propelling bodies are used having a C formed section, in the longitudinal direction of l0 the rocket, in order to save the expense of inserting full-plugs.

Every full end. of the C, contacts with an open end of the following hollow C plug. If a plurality of hollow bodies are placed together in a l@ container, along the surfaces of contact between the charge and its container, there are defects in tightness and inequalities in t. Other sources of defects may be found in all such parts in which the single C-shaped bodies come into contact one with another. This is why such types of rockets have never come into practical use.

Another detail in construction has been to subdivide the compact-charge by means of layers placed transversely to the longitudinal centre-line of the rocket, at the same height of the plug, and formed of a more or less combustible material. When Athe separating layer burns, it provides propulsion only from this small surface of the cross section of the plug. Therefore, such rockets 31D rise with a non-uniform speed'and lose considerably in height of` flight'. When such rockets are fired at an angle they do not follow the usual parabolic trajectory, but va broken one, in the direction of gravity, asa result of the slight pro- 89 pelling forces .described above.

' 'I'he Various objects and features of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon a consider tion of the appended drawings and the followi g description wherein 4l@ several exemplary embodimentsof the invention are disclosed.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a partial longitudinal sectional view of a rocket illustrating means for controlling the d5 combustion of the propelling charge.

Fig. 2 is a similar sectional View illustrating a modified plug.

. Fig. 3 is a sectional View of a modification of plug shown Fig. 2.

Fig. 41s' a partial longitudinalv sectional view of a rocket showing another type of plug.

In carrying out the invention the disadvantages of the prior devices are completely avoided when the rocket is made as shown in Figure 1, in which 4a disc d, consisting of more or less combustible material, is placed round the plug c, thus ob taining a slowing-down in the combustion of the charge b placed around the plug. This disc provides means showing a constant bearing of thev propelling charge, in the zone between the inside wall of the sleeve a and the outside rim of the disc, as shown at t in Fig. 1.

An irrational construction of rockets with a powder charge, mayhave the consequence that the part t of lthe propelling charge (Fig. 2) m burns quicker than the.plug c. During combustion of this part of the rocket the flame enters suddenly in a chamber closed on all sides and, according to the depth of the plug the same can be gasied more rapidly by the ring pressure, 16 whereupon the second chamber burns regularly, or the plug, `being yet too thick, cannot be expelled by the iiring'pressure, so that gasication takes place in a closed space, exploding the rocket.

The present invention avoids such disadvan- 20 tages by the use of a hollow plug as shown in Fig. 3 formed of a proper material, so that its shortestv length L in the axial longitudinal d-irection of the rocket should be approximately equal to the depth S of the propelling charge as shown in Fig. 2. The result is that, the plug burns at l the same time in which the charge in the first chamber is being burned. The recesses at the ends of the plug p allows the length Z1 to be ma`de considerably greater than depth si.

Thus the propelling charge burns while the charge in the first chamber is burned. When the plug p is burned the ring of the following chambers takes place andV the combustion l gases pass freely through the opening 20 and outside the rocket. '85 In the plug p there is at rst a narrow exit-channel which causesan initial increase in the velocity of the outgoing gases, even with a rather small initial combustion surface, so that the eflciency of the rocket is still improved.l hollow plugs may be inserted as such, or can be hollowed out after having been placed in position, for instance-by punching or drilling them, or else they are formed as compound plugs m as shown in Fig. 4. This latter plug can be readily modified to a hollow one, by extracting the filling element 2l.

The plugs and the discs Ldividing two chambers, y can, according to the invention, take any known shape and can be made out of combustible, non- A50 combustible or partially non-combustible mate' rials. According to the Ainvention and according f to the shape of the dividing'element, between this part of the propelling charge and the following y one, another combustible or incombustible body u said M can be inserted or added; said body being used for instance either to adjust the combustion or to secure tightness.

The hollow plugs oiler a completely new possibility or use for rockets with solid propelling charges, as the same rocket, after having been prepared, may be used, either as a short combusf tion rocket and with a short trajectory or as a long combustiony rocket and with a long trajectory. 'Ihis is obtained by firing in the first case the iirst plug to be burned as a combined plug, burning slowly and 'for a long time, and if the second plug is hollow the speed of the rocket will be accelerated by the iiring of the second chamber. If before letting oil the rocket, the part 2l oi.' the plug is extracted, there remains the hollow plug which burns rapidly .and the initial speed will also be high.

charge arranged within said sleeve so as to provide a central tubular opening within the sleeve, a plug formed oi' combustible material arranged within 'said opening, and said plug having means associated therewith for preventing the firing charge laterally of the plug from burning through prior to the burning of the longitudinal dimension of the plug.`

2. In a rocket, a sleeve, a tubular shaped firing charge arranged within the sleeve so as to provide an opening extending longitudinally oi' the rocket, a plug formed of combustible material arranged within said opening, and said plug having a recess in one end thereof so as to perf mit an opening to be'burned through the longitudinal dimension of the plug before the tiring charge adjacent the plug will be consumed.

3. In a rocket, a sleeve, a tubular shaped iiring charge arranged within the sleeve so as to provide an opening extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the rocket, a plug formed o1' combustible material arranged within said opening, said plug having a recess in one end thereof, and a. removable combustion element arranged 'within said recess.

f RUDOLF ZWERINA. 

